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MAJOR GENERAL AEERED H. TERRY, U. S. A. 
From the portrait in Memorial Hall at Hartford 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER 



BY 



Major General ALFRED H. TERRY, 



AND WHAT IT ACCOMPLISHED 



BY 

ARTHUR D. OSBORNE 

Read before the New Haven Colony Historical Society, 
October 2j, igii 



NEW HAVEN 

THE TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR PRESS 
191 1 



o 



■AR 3! 191i 



THE CAPTURE OF FORT FISHER 



While we would forget the animosities and the bitterness aroused 
by the Civil War, we should never forget those brave men whose 
valor and sacrifices brought us safely out of that fierce conflict. 
And it seems eminently fit that a great achievement, by a distin- 
guished soldier, whose home was in New Haven, should receive 
full recognition in the records of the New Haven Colony Historical 
Society. 

It was forty-six years on the 15th of last January since Fort 
Fisher was captured. Some of us remember the exultant thrill we 
felt when the telegraph flashed the message to his fellow townsmen, 
"General Terry has taken Fort Fisher," but to the majority of the 
people in this community that event is now only history. And it is 
not only our duty but a pleasure from time to time to recall the 
great deeds of such men, and of those who served under them, that 
the coming generations may learn to remember and honor them so 
long as the country which they preserved shall endure. 

It is not the object of this paper to give an account of the long 
and arduous service of General Terry throughout the Civil War 
and during the reconstruction of the revolted states as military 
governor of Virginia and also of Georgia, where he was sent to deal 
with a difficult and critical situation, nor of his later career, during 
which by his ability and scholarly attainments he rose to the highest 
place in the esteem of his brother officers. Nor would the prescribed 
limits of this paper permit it. It is only intended to describe 
clearly and concisely a great military operation, remarkable for the 
perfection of its plans in every detail and the celerity and complete- 
ness of its success and also to point out some of the important 
results that were secured by it. 



That the capture of Fort Fisher may be fully appreciated and 
understood a brief survey of the events which preceded and followed 
it is proper and perhaps necessary. 

Immediately after hostilities began, by the attack on Fort Sumter, 
President Lincoln, on the 19th and 27th of April, 1861, proclaimed 
a blockade of the entire Southern coast. Every available vessel of 
war was employed and many merchant vessels fitted out as gun- 
boats to enforce the blockade. To make the blockade more effective, 
expeditions were despatched to occupy all the available places on 
the coast. But in spite of all the measures adopted and although 
great numbers of blockade runners were captured or destroyed, 
blockade running was continued. The proximity of Nassau and 
Bermuda, the rendezvous of these vessels, to the Southern ports, and 
the enormous profits of a successful venture, in the exchange of 
arms, ammunition and materials of war for cotton, were powerful 
inducements to run the risk of capture or destruction and many 
succeeded in going in and out of Southern ports. The Secretary of 
the Navy, in his report after the war, stated that the number of 
blockade runners captured was 1,151, and the number destroyed 355, 
making in all 1,506. 

Gradually the occupation of the entrance to the Southern ports 
by our troops and the closer approach of the blockading squadrons 
practically had closed all of them of any importance except Cape 
Fear River and the harbor of Wilmington, which was defended by 
the strong works of Fort Fisher and many others. The Secretary 
of the Navy states in his report in December, 1865, that, "as early 
in the war as 1862 the necessity of closing the port of Wilmington 
became a work of primary importance with this department and was 
never relinquished, but without military aid and cooperation it 
could not be effected." In September, 1864, the department had 
such assurance of military assistance as warranted entering upon 
the necesary preparations for assembling an adequate naval force. 
Rear Admiral Porter, who had shown great ability as the commander 
of the Mississippi squadron and had identified himself with many of 



its most important achievements, was transferred to the North 
Atlantic squadron, which included within its limits Cape Fear River 
and the port of Wilmington. 

The Richmond Despatch, between the date of the first attack and 
the second, showed the importance of the port of Wilmington to the 
Confederacy in the following article: "The special report of the 
Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the matter shows that there 
have been imported into the Confederacy, at the ports of Wilmington 
and Charleston, since October 20th, 1864, 8,652,000 pounds of meat, 
1,507,000 pounds of lead, 1,933,000 pounds of saltpetre, 546,000 
pairs of shoes, 316,000 pairs of blankets, 520,000 pounds of coffee, 
69,000 rifles, 97 packages of revolvers, 2,639 packages of medicine, 
43 cannon, with a large quantity of other articles of which we need 
make no mention. It is a matter of absolute impossibility for the 
Federals to stop our blockade running at the port of Wilmington. 
If the wind blows off the coast the blockading fleet is driven off. 
If the wind blows landward they are compelled to haul off to a great 
distance." The amount of importations above described was 
brought in in less than three months. 

For the first attack a fleet of naval vessels, surpassing in numbers 
and equipment any which had assembled during the war, was col- 
lected with despatch at Hampton Roads. It was not until the early 
part of December, 1864, that the expedition departed for Beaufort, 
North Carolina, the place of rendezvous. On the 24th of December, 
Rear Admiral Porter with a bombarding force of thirty-seven 
vessels, five of which were iron-clads, and a reserve force of nine- 
teen vessels, attacked the forts at the mouth of Cape Fear River, 
and silenced them in an hour and a quarter; but there being no 
troops to make an assault, nothing beyond the injury inflicted on 
the works and on the garrison was accomplished by the bombard- 
ment. A renewed attack was made the next day and the forts were 
silenced, but no assault was made or attempted by the troops which 
had been disembarked for that purpose. Major General Butler, 
who commanded the cooperating force, consisting of 6,500 infantry, 



two batteries of artillery and a few cavalry, after a reconnoissance, 
came to the conclusion that the place could not be carried by an 
assault. He therefore reembarked and, informing Rear Admiral 
Porter of his intention, returned with his command to Hampton 
Roads. Rear Admiral Porter remained in the vicinity with his force 
awaiting military aid and, confident that with adequate military 
cooperation the fort could be carried, he asked it and earnestly 
requested that the enterprise should not be abandoned. In this the 
Department and the President fully concurred. Of this Lieutenant 
General Grant was advised and he promptly detailed a second 
military force composed of about eight thousand five hundred men 
under the command of Major General Alfred H. Terry. This 
officer arrived off Fort Fisher on the 13th of January, 1865. 
Meantime the fort had received a considerable reinforcement. 

General Terry was admirably fitted to command such an expedi- 
tion. He had already acquired some knowledge of military affairs, 
when at the outbreak of the Civil War he was commissioned Colonel 
of the Second Regiment Connecticut Militia to serve three months 
and left with that regiment for Washington, May loth, 1861, 
participating in the battle of Bull Run ; and on the expiration of its 
term of service, on his return to Connecticut, was immediately 
commissioned Colonel of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment, volun- 
teers for three years or the war. This regiment formed part of 
the force which was despatched to occupy the islands on the coast 
of South Carolina and sailed for Port Royal October 29th, 1861. 
He took part in the siege of Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, and upon 
its surrender was made brigadier general of volunteers. He 
engaged in the siege of Fort Wagner and after the failure of the 
first two assaults was assigned to lead the assaulting column in the 
third attempt, but at daylight of the morning when it was to be made, 
the fort was found to have been evacuated in the night. He told 
the writer that his experience there was of the greatest advantage 
to him in planning and executing the attack on Fort Fisher. At 
the opening of the campaign of 1864 he was transferred, with his 




AI.FRED H. TERRY 



command, to the forces in front of Petersburg and commanded a 
division in the loth Corps and at one time commanded the loth 
Corps. 

In the summer of 1864, the loth Corps had many severe engage- 
ments on the north side of the James River and in front of the 
defenses of Petersburg and Richmond. He had been therefore 
nearly four years in active service in the field, in battles, in sieges and 
maneuvers, and moreover had studied thoroughly the great cam- 
paigns of many wars and the best authors on military science. 

Fort Fisher was situated on the peninsula between the Cape Fear 
River and the Atlantic Ocean, about twenty-two miles below Wil- 
mington. It consisted of two fronts, the land front running across 
the peninsula about 480 yards long, the sea front running parallel 
to the beach about 1,300 yards. The parapet on the land side was 
25 feet thick and 20 feet high, with traverses rising ten feet above it, 
running back 30 to 40 feet and being 8 to 12 feet thick. It was 
defended by a garrison of 2,500 men under the command of Colonel 
Lamb. There were in place for its defense 75 heavy guns, some 
of them Armstrong guns with the "broad arrow" and Sir William 
Armstrong's name on them. It was surrounded by a wet ditch 15 
feet wide with a stockade extending from the fort to the sea on one 
side and from the salient to the marsh on the other. 

The official report of General Terry gives so clear and concise 
an account of the whole affair that it is here inserted nearly in full, 
omitting only some of the details. 

Headquarteirs United Statics Forces 
ON FederaIv Point, N. C, 

January 25th, 1865. 
General: — I have the honor to submit the following detailed 
report of the operations which resulted in the capture of Fort Fisher 
and the occupation of Fort Caswell, and the other works at the 
mouth of the Cape Fear River. 

On the 2d instant I received from the Lieutenant-General in 
person orders to take command of the troops destined for the move- 



8 

ment. They were 3,300 picked men from the second division of the 
Twenty-fourth Army corps, under Brigadier-General Adelbert 
Ames, the same number from the Third division of the Twenty- 
fifth Army corps, under the command of Brigadier-General Charles 
J. Paine, 1,400 men from the second brigade of the First division of 
the Twenty- fourth Army corps, under Colonel J. C. Abbott, 7th 
New Hampshire Volunteers, the Sixteenth New York Independent 
Battery with four 3-inch guns, and Light Battery E, Third United 
States Artillery, with six light 12-pounder guns. I was instructed 
to move them from their positions in the lines on the north side 
of the James River to Bermuda Landing, in time to commence their 
embarkation on transport vessels at sunrise on the 4th instant. 

In obedience to these orders, the movement commenced at noon of 
the 3d instant. The troops arrived at the landing at sunset and 
there bivouacked for the night. 

The transports did not arrive as soon as they were expected. 
The first of them made its appearance late in the afternoon of the 
4th. One of them, the Atlantic, was of too heavy draught to come 
up the James ; Curtis' brigade of Ames' division was therefore 
placed on river steamboats and sent down the river to be transferred 
to her. 

The embarkation of the remainder of the force commenced at sun- 
set of the 4th and was completed at noon of the 5th instant; each 
vessel, as soon as it was loaded, was sent to Fort Monroe, and at 
9 o'clock p. M. of the 5th the whole fleet was collected in Hampton 
Roads. The troops were all in heavy marching order with four 
days' rations from the morning of the 4th in their haversacks, and 
forty rounds of ammunition in their boxes. 

I went down the river personally with the Lieutenant-General, 
and on the way received from him additional instructions, and the 
information that orders had been given for the embarkation of a 
siege train with a detail of artillerists and a company of engineers, 
so that in case siege operations should become necessary the men 
and material for it might be at hand. 

These troops, under the command of Brevet Brigadier-General 
H. L. Abbott, were to follow me to Beaufort, North Carolina, and 
await orders. It was not until this time that I was informed that 
Fort Fisher was the point against which we were to operate. 

During the evening of the 5th orders were given for the trans- 
ports to proceed to sea at four o'clock the next morning, and accom- 



panying these orders were sealed letters, to be opened when off Cape 
Henry, directing them to rendezvous, in case of separation from the 
flagship, at a point twenty-five miles off Beaufort, North Carolina. 

The vessels sailed at the appointed hour. During the 6th instant 
a severe storm arose, which so much impeded our progress that it 
was not until the morning of the 8th that my own vessel arrived at 
the rendezvous; all the others, excepting the flagship of General 
Paine, were still behind. 

During the 8th nearly all of the vessels arrived at the rendezvous ; 
some of them required repairs to their hulls, damaged by the gale, 
some repairs to their machinery, others needed coal or water. These 
vessels were brought into the harbor or to the outer anchorage, 
where their wants were supplied ; all the others remained, until the 
final sailing of the expedition, some twenty to twenty-five miles 
off the land. The weather continued so unfavorable as to afford no 
prospect that we would be able to make a landing on the open 
beach of Federal Point until Wednesday, the nth. On that day 
Admiral Porter proposed to start, but at high water there was still 
so much surf on the bar that the iron-clads and other vessels of 
heavy draught could not be gotten over it ; our departure was there- 
fore delayed till the next day. 

On the morning tide of the I2th the vessels in the harbor passed 
out, and the whole fleet of naval vessels and transports got under 
way for this place. As we were leaving, the vessels containing 
General Abbott's command came in sight ; orders were sent to them 
to follow us. 

We did not arrive off Federal Point until nearly night-fall, con- 
sequently, and in accordance with the decision of the Admiral, the 
disembarkation of the troops was not commenced until the next 
morning. Our subsequent experience fully justified the delay; it 
would have been extremely diflicult to land the men at night. 

At 4 o'clock A. M. of the 13th, the inshore division of naval vessels 
stood in close to the beach to cover the landing. The transports 
followed them and took positions as nearly as possible in a line 
parallel to and about two hundred yards outside of them. The 
iron-clads moved down to within range of the fort and opened fire 
upon it. Another division was placed to the northward of the 
landing place, so as to protect our men from any attack from the 
direction of Masonboro' Inlet. At 8 o'clock nearly 200 boats, 
besides steam tugs, were sent from the Navy to the transports, and 



lO 

the disembarkation of men, provisions, tools and ammunition simul- 
taneously commenced. 

At 3 o'clock p. M. nearly 8,000 men, with three day's rations in 
their haversacks, and 40 rounds of ammunition in their boxes, six 
days' supply of hard bread in bulk, 300,000 additional rounds of 
small-arm ammunition, and a sufficient number of entrenching tools, 
had been safely landed. The surf on the beach was still quite high, 
notwithstanding that the weather had become very pleasant: and 
owing to it some of the men had their rations and ammunition 
ruined by water; with this exception, no accident of any kind 
occurred. 

As soon as the troops had commenced landing, pickets were 
thrown out; they immediately encountered outposts of the enemy, 
and shots were exchanged with them, but no serious engagement 
occurred. A few prisoners were taken, from whom I learned that 
Hoke's Rebel division, which it was supposed had been sent 
further South, was still here, and that it was his outposts which we 
were meeting. 

The first object which I had in view after landing was to throw 
a strong defensive line across the peninsula from Cape Fear River 
to the sea, facing Wilmington, so as to protect our rear from attack 
while we should be engaged in operating against Fisher. Our maps 
indicated that a good position for such a line would be found a short 
distance above the head of Myrtle Sound, which is a long shallow 
piece of water separated from the ocean by a sand spit of about 
100 yards in width, and communicates with it by Masonboro' 
Inlet. 

It was supposed that the right flank of a line at that point would 
be protected by the sound, and, being above its head, that we 
should by it control the beach as far as the inlet, and thus, in case 
of need, be able to land supplies in quiet water there. Our landing 
place was selected with reference to this idea. An examination 
made after we landed showed that the sound for a long distance 
above its head was so shallow as to offer no obstacle to the passage 
of troops at low tide, and as the farther down the peninsula we 
should go the shorter would be our line across it, it was determined 
to take up a position where the maps showed a large pond occupying 
nearly one-third of the width of the peninsula at about three miles 
from the fort. Shortly before five o'clock, leaving Abbott's brigade 
to cover our stores, the troops were put in motion for the last-named 



II 

point. On arriving at it, the "pond" was found to be a sand-flat, 
sometimes covered with water, giving no assistance to the defense of 
a line established behind it. Nevertheless, it was determined to get 
a line across at this place, and Paine's division, followed by two of 
Ames' brigades, made their way through. The night was very dark, 
much of the ground was a marsh, and illy adapted to the construc- 
tion of works, and the distance was found to be too great to be 
properly defended by troops which could be spared from the direct 
attack upon the fort. It was not until 9 o'clock p. m. that Paine 
succeeded in reaching the river. 

The ground still nearer the fort was then reconnoitered and 
found to be much better adapted to our purposes ; accordingly, the 
troops were withdrawn from their last position and established on a 
line about two miles from the works. They reached this final 
position at 2 o'clock a. m. of the 14th instant. Tools were immedi- 
ately brought up and the entrenchments were commenced. At 8 
o'clock a good breastwork, reaching from the river to the sea, and 
partially covered by abattis, had been constructed and was in a 
defensible condition. It was much improved afterward, but from 
this time our foothold on the peninsula was secured. 

Early in the morning of the 14th, the landing of the artillery was 
commenced, and by sunset all the light guns were gotten on shore. 
During the following night they were placed on the line, most of 
them near the river, where the enemy, in case he should attack us, 
would be least exposed to the fire of the gunboats. 

Curtis' brigade of Ames' division was moved down toward 
Fisher during the morning, and at noon his skirmishers, after 
capturing on their way a small steamer which had come down the 
river with shells and forage for the garrison of the fort, reached a 
small unfinished outwork in front of the west end of the land 
front of the work. 

General Curtis, Lieutenant-Colonel Comstock, the chief engineer 
of the expedition, and myself, under the protection of the fire of 
the fleet, made a careful reconnoissance of the work, getting within 
six hundred yards of it. 

As the result of this reconnoissance, and in view of the extreme 
difficulty which might be expected in landing supplies and the 
material for a siege on the open and often tempestuous beach, it was 
decided to attempt an assault the next day, provided that in the 
meantime the fire of the Navy should so far destroy the palisades 
as to make one practicable. 



12 

This decision was communicated to Admiral Porter, who at once 
placed a division of his vessels in a position to accomplish this 
last-named object. It was arranged in consultation with him that 
a heavy bombardment from all the vessels should commence early in 
the morning and continue up to the moment of the assault, and that 
even then it should not cease, but should be diverted from the 
points of attack to other parts of the work. 

It was decided that the assault should be made at 3 o'clock p. m. ; 
that the Army should attack on the western half of the land face, 
and that a column of sailors and marines should assault at the 
northeast bastion. 

The fire of the Navy continued during the night. At 8 o'clock 
A. M. of the 15th all of the vessels, except a division left to aid in 
the defence of our northern line, moved into position, and a fire, 
magnificent alike for its power and accuracy, was opened. 

Ames' division had been selected for the assault. Paine was 
placed in command of the defensive line, having with him Abbott's 
brigade in addition to his own division. Ames' first brigade — 
Curtis' — was already at the outwork above-mentioned, and in 
trenches close around it ; his other two brigades, Pennypacker's and 
Bell's, were moved at noon to within supporting distance of him. 

At 2 o'clock preparations for <the assault were commenced. 
Sixty sharpshooters from the Thirteenth Indiana Volunteers, armed 
with the Spencer repeating carbine, and forty others, volunteers 
from Curtis' brigade, the whole number under the command of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lent, of the Thirteenth Indiana, were thrown 
forward at a run to within 175 yards of the work. They were 
provided with shovels, and soon dug pits for shelter, and com- 
menced firing at the parapet. 

As soon as this movement commenced the parapet of the fort was 
manned and the enemy's fire, both of musketry and artillery, opened. 

As soon as the sharpshooters were in position Curtis' brigade was 
moved forward by regiment at the double-quick into line at about 
475 yards from the work. The men there laid down. This was 
accomplished under a sharp fire of musketry and artillery, from 
which, however, they soon sheltered themselves by digging shallow 
trenches. 

When Curtis moved from the outwork Pennypacker was brought 
up to it, and Bell was brought into line 200 yards in his rear. Find- 
ing that a good cover for Curtis' men could be found on the reverse 



13 

slope of a crest 60 yards in the rear of the sharpshooters, they were 
again moved forward, one regiment at a time, and again covered 
themselves in trenches. Pennypacker followed Curtis and occupied 
the ground vacated by him, and Bell was brought up to the outwork. 

It had been proposed to blow up and cut down the palisades ; bags 
of powder, with fuses attached, had been prepared, and a party of 
volunteer axemen organized ; but the fire of the Navy had been so 
effective during the preceding night and morning that it was 
thought unnecessary to use the powder. The axemen, however, 
were sent in with the leading brigade, and did good service by 
making openings in portions of the palisading which the fire of the 
Navy had not been able to reach. 

At 3.25 p. M. all the preparations were completed, the order to 
move forward was given to Ames, and a concerted signal was made 
to Admiral Porter to change the direction of his fire. 

Curtis' brigade at once sprung from their trenches and dashed 
forward in line; its left was exposed to a severe enfilading fire, 
and it obliqued to the right so as to envelope the left of the land 
front; the ground over which it moved was marshy and difficult, 
but it soon reached the palisades, passed through them, and effected 
a lodgment on the parapet. At the same time the column of sailors 
and marines, under Fleet Captain K. R. Breese, advanced up the 
beach in the most gallant manner and attacked the northeast 
bastion ; but, exposed to a murderous fire, they were unable to get 
up the parapet. After a severe struggle and a heavy loss of valuable 
officers and men, it became apparent that nothing could be effected at 
that point, and they were withdrawn. When Curtis moved forward, 
Ames directed Pennypacker to move up to the rear of the sharp- 
shooters, and brought Bell up to Pennypacker's late position, and 
as soon as Curtis got a foothold on the parapet sent Pennypacker in 
to his support. He advanced, overlapping Curtis' right, and drove the 
enemy from the heavy palisading, which extended from the west end 
of the land face to the river, capturing a considerable number of pris- 
oners ; then pushing forward to their left, the two brigades together 
drove the enemy from about one quarter of the land face. Ames then 
brought up Bell's brigade, and moved it between the work and the 
river. On this side there was no regular parapet, but there was an 
abundance of cover afforded to the enemy by cavities from which 
sand had been taken for the parapet, the ruins of barracks and 
storehouses, the large magazine, and by traverses behind which they 



14 

stubbornly resisted our advance. Hand to hand fighting of the 
most desperate character ensued, the huge traverses of the land face 
being used successively by the enemy as breastworks, over the tops 
of which the contending parties fired in each other's faces. Nine of 
these were carried one after the other by our men. 

When Bell's brigade was ordered into action I foresaw that more 
troops would probably be needed, and sent an order for Abbott's 
brigade to move down from the north line, at the same time request- 
ing Captain Breese to replace them with his sailors and marines. 
I also directed General Paine to send me one of the strongest 
regiments of his own division ; these troops arrived at dusk and 
reported to General Ames. At 6 o'clock, Abbott's brigade went 
into the fort; the regiment from Paine's division — the Twenty- 
seventh United States colored troops. Brevet Brigadier-General 
A. M. Blackman commanding — was brought up to the rear of the 
work, where it remained under fire for some time and was then with- 
drawn. Until 6 o'clock the fire of the Navy continued upon that 
portion of the work not occupied by us; after that time it was 
directed on the beach, to prevent the coming up of reinforcements, 
which it was thought might possibly be thrown over from the right 
bank of the river to Battery Buchanan. The fighting for the trav- 
erses continued till nearly g o'clock, two more of them being 
carried; then a portion of Abbott's brigade drove the enemy from 
their last remaining stronghold, and the occupation of the work 
was completed. 

The same brigade, with General Blackman's regiment, were 
immediately pushed down the Point to Battery Buchanan, whither 
many of the garrison had fled. On reaching the battery all of the 
enemy who had not been previously captured were made prisoners. 
Among them were Major-General Whiting, and Colonel Lamb, the 
commandant of the fort. 

About 4 o'clock in the afternoon Hoke advanced against our 
north line, apparently with the design of attacking it; but if such 
was his intention he abandoned it after a skirmish with our pickets. 

During the day Brevet Brigadier-General H. L. Abbott, Chief of 
Artillery, was busily engaged in landing artillery and ammunition, so 
that if the assault failed siege operations might at once be com- 
menced. (The First Connecticut Heavy Artillery formed part of 
this force.) 



15 

Consequent to the fall of Fisher, the enemy, during the night of 
the 1 6th and 17th, blew up Fort Caswell, and abandoned both it and 
their very extensive works on Smith's Island, at Smithville and 
Reeve's Point, thus placing in our hands all the works erected to 
defend the mouth of the Cape Fear River. 

In all the works were found 169 pieces of artillery, nearly all of 
which are heavy, over 2,000 stands of small-arms, considerable 
quantities of commissary stores, and full supplies of ammunition. 
Our prisoners numbered 112 commissioned officers and 1,971 
enlisted men. 

I have no words to do justice to the behavior of both officers and 
men on this occasion ; all that men could do they did. Better soldiers 
never fought. Of General Ames I have already spoken in a letter 
recommending his promotion. He commanded all the troops 
engaged and was constantly under fire. His great coolness, good 
judgment, and skill were never more conspicuous than on this 
assault. Brigadier-General Curtis and Colonels Pennypacker, Bell, 
and Abbott — the brigade commanders — led them with the utmost 
gallantry. Curtis was wounded after fighting in the front rank, 
rifle in hand ; Pennypacker, while carrying the standard of one of 
his regiments, the first man in a charge over a traverse. Bell was 
mortally wounded near the palisades. 



I should signally fail to do my duty were I to omit to speak in 
terms of the highest admiration of the part borne by the Navy in 
our operations. In all ranks, from Admiral Porter to his seamen, 
there was the utmost desire not only to do their proper work, but to 
facilitate in every possible manner the operations of the land forces. 
To him and to the untiring efforts of his officers and men are 
we indebted that our men, stores, tools, and ammunition were 
safely and expeditiously landed, and that our wounded and prisoners 
were embarked for transportation to the North ; to the great accu- 
racy and power of their fire it is owing that we had not to confront 
a formidable artillery in the assault, and that we were able with but 
little loss to push forward the men, preparatory to it, to a point nearly 
as favorable for it as the one they would have occupied had siege 
operations been undertaken and the work systematically approached. 
The assault of the sailors and marines, although it failed, undoubt- 
edly contributed somewhat to our success, and certainly nothing 



i6 

could surpass the perfect skill with which the fleet was handled by 
its commander. Every request which I made to Admiral Porter 
was most cheerfuly complied with, and the utmost harmony has 
existed between us from the outset to the present time. 

I forward herewith General Ames' report. 

I have the honor to be, General, very respectfully, your obedient 

servant, 

Alfred H. Terry, 

Major-General. 

Brigadier-General I. A. Rawlins, Chief of Staff, City Point, 
Virginia. 

(The 6th and 7th Connecticut Regiments formed part of the 
troops who made the assault.) 

Complimentary Letter of Rear-Admirae Porter in regard 
TO General Terry. 

North Atlantic Squadron, 
U. S. Flag-Ship Malvern, 

Oee SmithvillE, North Carolina, 

January 20, 1865. 

Sir: — I have been so much pleased with General Terry, and the 
manner in which he has conducted his part of the operations here, 
that I deem it worthy of a special despatch to express what I feel. 

General Terry is, no doubt, well known to his associates in the 
field, who have served with him, and to the lieutenant general 
who selected him for the service, but the American people should 
know and feel the very great service he has rendered them by his 
most admirable assault on these tremendous works. Young, brave, 
and unassuming, he bears his success with the modesty of a true 
soldier, and is willing to give credit to those who shared with him the 
perils of the assault. No one could form the slightest conception of 
these works, their magnitude, strength, and extent, who had not 
seen them, and General Whiting (the founder) must have had an 
abiding faith in the durability of the Confederacy when he expended 
so many years' labor on them. 

The result of the fall of Fort Fisher was the fall of all the sur- 
rounding works in and near this place — Fort Caswell, a large work 
at the West inlet, mounting twenty-nine guns, all the works on 



17 

Smith's Island, the works between Caswell and Smithville up to 
battery on Reeve's Point, on west side of the river — in all one 
hundred and sixty-nine guns falling into our hands ; two steamers 
were burnt or blown up, and there never was so clean a scoop 
made anywhere. 

A timid man would have hesitated to attack these works by assault, 
no matter what assistance he may have had from other quarters, 
but General Terry never for an instant hesitated ; and though I 
feel somewhat flattered at the confidence he reposed in my judgment, 
I am quite ready to believe that he acted on his own ideas of what 
was proper to be done in the matter, and was perfectly qualified to 
judge without the advice of anyone. 

Throughout this affair his conduct has been marked by the 
greatest desire to be successful, not for the sake of personal 
considerations, but for the cause in which we are all alike engaged. 

I don't know that I ever met an officer who so completely 
gained my esteem and admiration. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

David D. Porter^ 

Rear- Admiral. 



The Confederate General Whiting testified to the Committee on 
the conduct of the war : "The work was very strong, the garrison 
in good spirits and ready and the fire on the approaches, the 
assaulting column having no cover, would have been very heavy. 
In addition to the heavy guns, I had a battery of Napoleons, on 
which I placed great reliance. The palisades alone were a most 
formidable obstacle." 

Captain Breese of the Navy testified: "I know that at three 
o'clock in the afternoon the last provisions and the last man of the 
command which General Terry brought there were landed. Every- 
thing seemed to betoken great energy on the part of General Terry 
and in the way the men went to work in every respect. As soon 
as they got ashore, we saw them organize and march off and in a 
short time General Terry had thrown up a line of defensive works 
across the point and had captured a small steamer." 



i8 

In another report, Admiral Porter says : "General Terry himself 
went into the fort and I kept up constant communication with him, 
until three hearty cheers, which were taken up by the fleet, 
announced the capture of Fort Fisher." 

"General Butler says that the fire of the Navy did keep the 
enemy in his bombproofs but feared it would keep his men out 
when they attempted to assault. General Terry was influenced by 
no such fear; on the contrary, we fired twenty yards ahead of 
our troops while they were fighting from bombproof to bombproof 
and the General constantly signalled, 'Fire away, your shells are 
doing good execution and our men are in no danger.' " 

General Sherman, advancing through the Carolinas, had put 
Charleston in possession of our forces and Wilmington was the 
only port through which supplies to Lee's army could now come 
from abroad, A tdegram was picked up in the fort from General 
Lee to his subordinate saying that if Forts Fisher and Caswell are 
not held he would have to evacute Richmond. Four blockade 
runners from Bermuda came in after the capture of Fort Fisher 
loaded with supplies for Lee's army, with five English passengers 
on board, one an English army officer. They said they came over 
"on a lark and were making themselves quite jolly with their 
champagne over their safe arrival." Anyone who has read Mrs. 
Roger A. Pryor's account of the conditions in Richmond at this 
time will appreciate the value of the supplies through this source. 
The importance of this great success was not limited to the closing 
of Wilmington harbor. Both the President and General Grant 
felt great anxiety lest Lee, evacuating Richmond and Petersburg, 
might elude the army of the Potomac and, effecting a junction with 
General Johnston in North Carolina, fall suddenly upon the army 
of General Sherman and, perhaps defeating it, enable Lee and 
Johnston to prolong the war indefinitely. General Terry being 
reinforced with two divisions from the loth Corps, prepared to open 
communications with General Sherman as soon as possible. Cox's 
division of the 25th also arriving was placed on the opposite side 



19 

of the river. About the middle of February, offensive operations 
were resumed in the direction of Wilmington, the vessels and 
troops moving up the river in concert. On the nth of February 
Terry had advanced with two divisions, Ames' and Paine's colored 
division, and had met with serious resistance. The defences of 
Wilmington included nineteen forts and batteries, all of the heaviest 
character and scientifically constructed and thoroughly armed. 
Besides these there were three lines of obstructions consisting of 
piles, torpedoes, sunken ships, cribs and chains, and rafts of heavy 
timber fastened together. About two miles below the city a 
second line of defences was constructed and the front of this line 
was covered by a succession of ponds and deep swamps crossed 
only by two narrow causeways. By skillful maneuvering the enemy 
were forced out of these defences, without serious loss to our men, 
and on the 21st of February General Terry occupied Wilmington. 

General Sherman having reached Fayetteville, North Carolina, 
might have turned eastward to Wilmington, about seventy miles 
distant, where he would have secured a safe base, with reinforce- 
ments to his army and abundant supplies. He however decided to 
push boldly on to Goldsboro, intending to concentrate there all the 
troops which had been sent to reinforce him. General Schofield, 
with the 23d Corps had been ordered east and had arrived at 
Newberne, North Carolina. Goldsboro is about fifty miles north- 
easterly from Fayetteville, about seventy miles north of Wilmington 
and fifty miles westerly from Newberne. A railroad connected 
these two places. General Terry, having received word that 
Sherman's army was at Fayetteville, despatched a steam tug up 
the Cape Fear River, to inform of the situation. 

General Sherman thus describes the result, "Sunday, March 12th, 
was a day of Sabbath stillness in Fayetteville. Shortly after noon 
was heard in the distance the shrill whistle of a steamboat, which 
came nearer and nearer, and soon a shout, long and continuous, was 
raised down by the river, which spread farther and farther, and we 
all felt that it meant a messenger from home. The effect was 



20 

electric. But in a few minutes came up through the town, behind 
a group of officers, a large, florid seafaring man, named Ainsworth, 
bearing a small mail-bag from General Terry. Intense anxiety had 
been felt for our safety and General Terry had been prompt to open 
communication. I directed General Terry and General Schofield 
with the 23d Corps to meet me at Goldsboro and on the 22d of 
March I rode to Cox's Bridge, where I met General Terry with 
his two divisions of the loth Corps and the next day rode into 
Goldsboro, where I met General Schofield with the 23d Corps, thus 
effecting a junction of all the army as originally planned. Our 
couriers had got through safely and this was the prompt reply." 
Replying to Terry's message, General Sherman in his despatch said : 
"I thank you for the energetic action that has marked your course 
and shall be most happy to meet you." 

The advance of the 23d Corps from Newberne was stubbornly 
resisted by the Confederate forces under General Bragg and at 
Kinston a severe engagement occurred in which the 15th Connecticut 
suffered a heavy loss and Major Walter Osborn of New Haven was 
mortally wounded and taken prisoner. Major Osborn had served 
through the war from the beginning ;and was much beloved in 
New Haven, where he had many friends, and his death was greatly 
lamented, and the more because it occurred so near the end of the 
war and for the belief that his life could have been saved by proper 
care. The movement of General Sherman towards Goldsboro, after 
two severe engagements with the army of General Johnston, 
relieved the resistance to the 23d Corps, which soon after entered 
Goldsboro and the three cooperating armies were concentrated 
there. 

Says General Sherman, "It was evident to me that there was now 
no force that could delay our progress, unless General Lee should 
succeed in eluding General Grant at Petersburg and make junction 
with Johnston and thus united meet me alone. And now that 
we had effected a junction with General Terry and General Scho- 
field, I had no fear even of that." 



21 

General Grant stated in his report at the close of the war, that the 
capture of Fort Fisher was one of the most important successes 
of the war. 

Thus ended one of the most perfectly planned and brilliantly 
executed operations of the Civil War. 

Both Houses of Congress by an unanimous vote passed a resolu- 
tion thanking General Terry and his command, as follows: "To 
Brevet Major General A. H. Terry and the officers and soldiers 
under his command, for the unsurpassed gallantry and skill exhibited 
by them in the attack upon Fort Fisher and the brilliant decisive 
victory by which that important work has been captured from the 
rebel forces and placed in the possession of the United States, and 
for their long and faithful service and unwavering devotion for 
the cause of the country in the midst of the greatest difficulties and 
dangers." 

General Terry was commissioned by President Lincoln a Brigadier 
General in the Regular Army of the United States and in 1886 was 
promoted to be a Major General. 




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